'When you are 22, put in 18 hours a day in work,’ CEO’s advice raises heckles

Bombay Shaving Company CEO Shantanu Deshpande has stirred a hornet’s nest by his recent LinkedIn post. Deshpande in his post has asked young employees to “worship your work” and said work-life balance is not important in the early stages of one’s career.

Several Twitter users criticised Deshpande for justifying what they called “toxic work culture” in the country.

“When you are 22 and new in your job, throw yourself into it. Eat well and stay fit, but put in 18 hours (a) day for at least 4-5 years,” Deshpande’s post read.

Also read: Return to office highest in telecom, consulting sectors; IT lags: Survey

Take it on the chin, says the CEO

In the early stages of career, employees must “worship” his work and the “flex” built in the first five years carries them for the rest of it, Deshpande said.

“Don’t do random rona-dhona. Take it on the chin and be relentless. You will be way better for it,” he further said.

“I see a LOT of youngsters who watch random content all over and convince themselves that ‘work life balance, spending time with family, rejuvenation bla bla’ is important. It is, but not that early,” added the founder-CEO of the self-grooming brand.

A Twitter user slammed Deshpande saying, “It’s because of people like these that we will raise another generation of slaves who will work to make the likes of Shantanu Deshpande rich. Its high time we say bye to toxic work cultures designed to exploit employees.”

Deshpande responds to criticism

“At a time when mass layoffs by Indian start-ups has become a norm, Shantanu Deshpande, Founder CEO of @BombayShavingCo is not only vouching for a toxic work culture, but also justifying himself even after people have called out his opinion on LinkedIn. What do you think about it?” said another user.

Also read: ‘Sake Viva’: Why Japan is asking its young people to drink more

Deshpande later edited his post to reply to the criticism. “Yikes. So much hate for 18 hour days. It’s a proxy for ‘giving your all and then some’. Edit 2 – for those wondering about culture at bsc, feel free to come any time or talk to any of our people,” he said, referring to Bombay Shaving Company as “bsc”.